INTERNATIONAL FORUM INTERRA Symposium:
INNOVATION AS DRIVER
OF SOCIO-CULTURAL CHANGES
Novosibirsk
September 13-14, 2012
The Society of Knowledge: Tendency and Perspectives
Josef Hochgerner
Zentrum für Soziale Innovation
This neither was one big innovation, nor just a series of innovations.
» » » We observe manifestations of powerful socio-technical systems, enabled by a particular culture of innovation
Options, made by humans ...
Earth rise from moon orbit, December 24, 1968
A walk in the sunshine, July 21, 1969
When the tide of innovation comes in ...
Unintended impact, e.g. climate change:
... create spectacular intended achievements:
„Sputnik shock“ in the U.S. → and the vision thereafter
Social change, development, crisis and ‚Grand Challenges‘:
Resources and solutions Evolution
of Brains
Innovative Technologies
Why SOCIAL Innovation ?
Social Innovations
Collaborative intelligence & intelligent collaboration
>> Cultural Evolution
Man-made Industrial Society
did change the world, including human cultures, created Information Society, Knowledge Society
Recognize:
Power for centuries → learn to think in
centuries
All innovations
are socially relevant
Innovations emerge from a certain background in society, and have impact on social entities, i.e. institutions,
organisations, social groupings and individuals in their various roles in family, business, civil society and the public.
Traditional concepts, indicators and measures of innovation fall short of the social dimensions of innovations in general,
and neglect social innovations in particular.
However:
„Social innovations are
new practices to resolve societal challenges, which are adopted and utilised
by individuals, social groups and organisations concerned.“
The analytical – not descriptive –
Definition of „Social Innovation“
*)*)Zentrum für Soziale Innovation, 2012:
„All innovations are socially relevant“
ZSI-Discussion Paper 13, p. 2, ... with reference to Schumpeter: They are
»New combinations of social practices«
Main features of social innovation
o Distinction between idea and dissemination: an idea becomes an innovation in the process of social implementation – it changes and improves social practices
o The „4-i process“:
– Ideation (identify & analyse the issue, get & promote an idea to solve it)
– Intervention (develop and test methods & approaches towards resolution)
– Implementation (apply real measures to surmount barriers & resistance)
– Impact (evaluate the range of – direct/indirect, sooner/later – outcomes)
Ideation Intervention Implementation Impact
“THE GREAT TRANSFORMATION”
Karl Polanyi, 1944:
Key elements of economic processes separate from society, and rule social relations instead of being regulated to benefit societal needs
Economy
Will there be innovations to integrate economy in society?
Society
Society
Economy
Society becomes an annex to the economy and „market forces“
Humankind owns affluent
knowledge!
However, too little of existing
knowledge is used in current
practises.
WHAT MAY WE EXPECT FROM A „KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY“ ?
„Financialization“ is defined as
a „pattern of accumulation in which profit making occurs increasingly through financial channels
rather than
through trade and commodity production.“
Krippner, Greta R., 2004: ‘What is Financialization?’; mimeo, UCLA Department of Sociology, p. 14.
From headstand to solid grounds:
Management of abundance (1)
Stop and reverse financialisation
Three Levers and Principles:
Taxation: Preferential treatment of productive industries and services, as compared to critical parts of finance industries:
wealth tax, taxes on revenues from speculation, ban of speculation on foodstuffs
Technologies: Just distribution of „energy for all“ as a global policy principle, instead of inefficient protocols aiming to curb emissions (cf. „The Hartwell Paper“, 2010)
Prices: Enforce real price on carbon based energy supply;
stimulate public and private investment in local and global access to clean energy and renewable resources
Innovations in smart, sustainable and inclusive growth:
Management of Abundance (2)
Cultural patterns - - - Values
Frame of reference [„shifting baselines“] *) Perceptions
Perceptions Information
Opinions, attitudes
Behaviour, social action, potential & real change
*) Sáenz-Arroyo et al. 2005: Rapidly Shifting Environmental Baselines Among Fishers in the Gulf of California
Knowledge, awareness
New social practices, or
„New combinations of practices“:
Social Innovations
„enviro
THE CULTURAL LEARNING CYCLE
ns“: media, societal institutions, networks, peer groups ....The position of knowledge on a stairway to
cognition Resources advancing knowledge and action
Concepts Competencies Capacities Levers
Data Information
Knowledge Wisdom
Abstraction Pattern recognition Linear thinking Lateral thinking
Documentation, order and analysis
Attributions, contradictions
Intelligence, empathy potential
Creativity, consensus
Facts &
figures Foresight,
scenarios Strategies, conventions Collaborative
action
Resources of [social] innovations to drive socio-cultural changes
Cognition
TURNING KNOWLEDGE INTO ACTION
Prof. Dr. Josef Hochgerner Centre for Social Innovation Linke Wienzeile 246 A - 1150 Vienna
Tel. ++43.1.4950442 Fax. ++43.1.4950442-40 email: hochgerner@zsi.at https://www.zsi.at
More information on social innovation: www.zsi.at/dp
Results of the conference „Challenge Social Innovation“, September 19-21, 2012, Vienna:
„Vienna Declaration on the Most Relevant Topics in Social Innovation Research“
and the Video „Schumpeter Adopts Social Innovation“
→ www.socialinnovation2011.eu
Summer School „Social Innovation in Europe and Beyond“
ZSI, Vienna, 9-13 July 2012: www.zsi.at/News
Academic study programme „M.A. in Social Innovation“
Danube University Krems (Austria), in collaboration with ZSI www.donau-uni.ac.at/emsi
“Innovation is not just an economic mechanism or a technical process.
It is above all a social phenomenon.
Through it, individuals and societies express their creativity, needs and desires.
By its purpose, its effects or its methods, innovation is thus intimately involved in the social conditions in which it is produced.”
European Commission, 1995: Green Paper on Innovation
http://europa.eu/documents/comm/green_papers/pdf/com95_688_en.pdf
Approaches to innovation
Innovations are „changes or novelties of rites, techniques, customs, manners and mores.“
Horace Kallen, 1949: Innovation, in: Encyklopedia of the Social Sciences; Vol. 8; pp. 58ff.
****
Area of societal
development Examples of social Innovations with systemic impact Old/historic/previous s. i. New/current/future s. i.
Science, education and training
Work, employment and the economy
Machinery & technology development
Democracy and politics
Social and health care systems
Universities; compulsory education; various pedagogical concepts (Steiner, Montessori ...)
Trade unions; Chambers of commerce; Taylorism; Fordism;
self service
Norms and standardisation;
mechanisation of house keeping;
traffic rules; drivers licence
‘Attic democracy’; the state as a juristic person; general elections
Social security; retirement schemes, welfare state
Technology enhanced learning;
‘micro-learning’, Web 2.0;
Wikipedia; ‘science mode 2’
Flextime wage records; group work; open innovation; CSR; social entrepreneurship; diversity mgmt.
Open source movement (communities); self constructed solar panels
Citizens and 3rd sector partici- pation; multi-level governance
New principles of financial precautions; evolving life styles
THE POTENTIAL OF SOCIAL INNOVATIONS
Comparison of the ‘new combinations’
according to Schumpeter with the ‘main types of innovations’
according to the Oslo Manual
… and
the main types of social innovations
New combinations of production factors
(SCHUMPETER 1912)#
Innovations in the corporate sector
(OECD/EUROSTAT 2005,
‘Oslo Manual’)
New combinations of social practices: social innovations, established
in the form of …
New or better products Product innovations Roles
New production methods Process innovation Relations Opening up new markets Marketing Norms
Reorganization of the
market position Organizational innovations
Values
New sources of raw materials
100 years of innovation theory and current innovation research
Social innovations (like any innovation) compete with traditional or other new solutions – and they have a life cycle(until acceptance/diffusion outweighs novelty)
No normative nature: Social innovations are not necessarily ‚good‘ (impact ± ) The scope of social innovations: the new practice does not need to be applied to the whole of society
Agnès Hubert et al. (BEPA) distinguish three perspectives to analyse objectives and impact, i.e.
the „social demand“ perspective,
the „societal challenges“ perspective, and
the „systemic change“ perspective.
„Empowering people – driving change. Social Innovation in the European Union.“
http://ec.europa.eu/bepa/pdf/publications_pdf/social_innovation.pdf
Main features of social innovation (2)
Towards an extended paradigm of innovation
In general, innovations aim
- primarily either on economic or on social objectives, - they may be technology-based or not;
- in the social sphere they may require formal regulation or not.
Innovations, addressing primarily economic objectives1), include
products
processes
organisational measures
marketing
Innovations, addressing primarily social objectives2), include
roles (of individuals, CSOs, corporate business, and public institutions)
relations (in professional and private environments, networks, collectives)
norms (on different levels, legal requirements)
values (custom, manners, mores, ethic/unethical behaviour)
1) „Oslo Manual“, OECD/EUROSTAT 2005, re. Schumpeter 2) My extension, 2011
Challenges (1): Growth of the world population,
not yet established ‚World Society‘
Challenges (2): Reliance on inadequate indicators
Wealthy societies provide less additional welfare to people
GDP (‚BIP‘) compared to ISEW (Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare) in Austria, 1955 – 1992
Source: Stockhammer et al. 1995
Challenges (3): Financialisation of the world economic system
Index of productivity 1959 until 2005 (USA) (1959=100)
Index of hourly compensation of production workers and non-supervisory workers
U.S. Data, Source:
Economic Policy Institute
